would collect $78 million in the first year of a U.S.-Mexican agreement. By

2050, the number is predicted to swell to 300,000 Mexicans collecting $650

million in benefits a year.

But that number doesn’t include the potentially eligible, undocumented

Mexican immigrants – numbering about 5 million, according to federal

estimates – a recent General Accounting Office report pointed out.

Accounting for illegals, the agreement could cost U.S. taxpayers $750

million within five years of implementation.

Steven A. Camarota, director of research at the Center for Immigration

Studies, says if Mexicans receive the $8,100 in benefits that Mexican-born

retirees in the U.S. currently get, the total expenditure for the program will

easily surpass $1 billion annually.

Beyond the cost, Republican lawmakers worry the proposal will fuel further illegal immigration.

“Talk about an incentive for illegal immigration,” Gannett quotes Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, as saying. “How many more would break the law to come to this country if promised U.S. government paychecks for life?”

Any “totalization” agreement ultimately reached must be approved by Congress.